French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo was firebombed around 1 AM this morning in an apparent response to the publication’s decision to move forward with a special “sharia” edition “guest edited” by the prophet Muhammad.

The newspaper’s intention was to mock Tunisia’s first democratic elections, which resulted in a victory for the moderate Islamist An-Nahda party, as well as the Lybian interim government’s announcement that sharia law would rule over the liberated nation.

The offices of Charlie Hebdo — which had renamed itself “Sharia Hebdo” for the issue — were destroyed, and most of their contents were burned after a single Molotov cocktail was thrown at the building. Two people are suspected to have taken part in the attack.

I appluad their response. “‘We cannot, today, put together a paper,’ said the paper’s editor-in-chief, Charb. ‘But we will do everything possible to do one next week. Whatever happens, we’ll do it. There is no question of giving in.'” If only more people had their courage to respond to such violence.